Cronje's downfall due to love of money

Cricket: Sacked South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje admitted yesterday his love of money led to his becoming involved with gamblers and bookmakers and, ultimately, to his downfall.

Giving testimony at the King Commission of Inquiry into match-fixing in Cape Town, Cronje claimed, however, that he had also been driven during his tenure as captain by a fierce patriotism.

"Yes, I accepted money from bookmakers. Yes, I was trying to feed them information. Yes, I spoke to the players before the match in 1996, but I promise you, every time I walked on to the field, I gave my all for South Africa," Cronje said.

In a rigorous cross-examination by Itzie Blumberg, a lawyer acting for businessmen Marlon Aronstam and Hamied Cassiem, who were allegedly involved in Cronje's shady deals, the former skipper yesterday revealed two previously undisclosed payments.

He said he was not sure of the origin of an amount of 139,158.70 rand ($20,080) paid into his account in January 1997.

The money was deposited five days after a payment of 231,143.40 rand ($33,353) was made by Mukesh Gupta, an Indian jeweller and gambler on cricket, for information received during India's tour of South Africa in 1996/97.

He also admitted receiving 3,000 rand ($435) from Aronstam, an employee of a company involved in betting, as a bonus for an accurate forecast of a likely total in a match between South Africa and Zimbabwe in January.

Cricket: Shane Warne's (photographed below) future as Australia's Test vice-captain is in doubt after a meeting with Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed in London.

Warne is likely to avoid a fine from the ACB for his part in an English phone-sex scandal but he may not prove so lucky with his position as deputy to Australian captain Steve Waugh.

Speed warned Warne his behaviour in leaving sexual messages on the answerphone of an English nurse was unacceptable.

But since Warne plays for English county side Hampshire, and not for an Australian team, it appears certain he will not be fined.

Speed said Warne had damaged his chances of retaining the vice-captaincy when ACB directors vote on the team leaders in August.

Canoeing: Ireland will have at least two canoeists at the Olympic Games in Sydney in Setember: the decision of the International Canoe Federation to allow slalom competitors to take up places originally earmarked for sprint canoeists guarantees that Spiddal's Eadaoin Ni Challarain will join Dubliner Ian Wiley in Sydney. Both, along with Tadhg McIntyre, will compete this weekend at the European Championships in Mezzana in northern Italy. A big Irish sprint team is also competing this weekend, at the World Cup event in Dusiburg in Germany. They will know next month whether they have secured a place or places in Sydney.

Swimming: The coach of Spanish swimmer Nina Jivanevskaia has been arrested on the Spanish Costa del Sol for allegedly being the ringleader of an ecstasy network, Spanish police said yesterday.

Although her British coach Cecil Thomas George is currently under suspension from world swimming for the use of doping products he has continued to work with Jivanevskaia, who last April 8th set a world record of 28.69 seconds in the 50-metre backstroke, which was broken on April 23rd by Japan's Mai Nakamura (28.67 seconds).

Motor sport: British Grand Prix organisers have escaped punishment over this year's rain-soaked farce at Silverstone.

FIA, the sport's world governing body, have instead demanded several recommendations be met before October 4th if next year's race is to be given the go-ahead.

The 2001 race has been put back from Easter to May 13th - though not its traditional mid-July date - on the provisional calendar which was also released yesterday. The schedule again features 17 races, beginning in Melbourne, Australia on March 4th and ending at Suzuka in Japan on October 14th.

The World Council, at its meeting in Warsaw, Poland yesterday, decided not to take any punitive action after hearing from representatives of the circuit and the race organisers, the Motor Sports Association.